Delve

Delve (Mining Expeditions)

Delve is the high-risk, high-reward active mining mini-game tied to your Mining skill. Instead of passive hourly ticks, you pay a permit and personally lead a deep-earth expedition, managing fuel, stability, and procedural hazards for premium ores, Obsidian Shards, and curios.

Access via:

• /delve — Start an expedition.
• /delve_shop (or the upgrade button in the gather hub) — Spend shards on permanent upgrades.

Entry Requirements & Cost

• Must have a Mining pickaxe (from /gather or the skills hub).
• Pay a one-time permit fee in gold. Cost scales with your current Fuel Level:
  • 1000 + (fuel_level × 500) gold.
• Higher fuel levels = deeper potential runs (more rewards) but higher upfront cost.
• First visit triggers a tutorial.

If you lack the gold, the command tells you exactly how much more you need.

The Expedition (Delve Run)

Once you pay and descend, you enter a real-time management view with a DelveState tracking:

• Depth: How far you've drilled (starts at 0).
• Fuel: Current / Max. Starts full based on your Fuel Level upgrade. Every major action costs fuel.
• Stability: Starts at 100%. Hazards damage it; if it hits 0 the mine collapses.
• Pickaxe Tier: Inherited from your Mining skill (iron → steel → gold → platinum → ideal). Higher tiers mitigate hazard damage.
• Cargo: Shards found, curios found, and ore collected this run.
• Hazards & Scanner: Procedural layers ahead. Use Survey to reveal them.

Layer Types & Hazards

Layers are generated procedurally as you drill:

• Safe — No effect.
• Gravel — Light stability damage.
• Gas Pocket — Moderate stability damage.
• Magma Flow — Heavy stability damage.
• Ore Vein (rare, starts appearing at depth 5 with ~7% chance) — Bonus mining yield for the current pickaxe tier + possible shards/curios.

Damage is calculated with variance (±20% around base) and mitigated by your pickaxe tier (0% for iron up to 50% for ideal).

Core Actions

• Drill (-1 Fuel): Advance 1 depth. Apply hazard effect (if any). Collect ore if it's a vein. Check for collapse or fuel exhaustion.
• Survey (-2 Fuel): Reveal the next 1–3 layers ahead (range improves with Sensor Level upgrade). Essential for planning.
• Reinforce (-5 Fuel): Boost stability by a flat amount (power increases with Structure Level upgrade). Can't go above 100%.
• Extract: End the run early and bank your cargo. (You can always extract at depth 0 for free, but that's pointless.)

Game Over Conditions:

• Stability ≤ 0 → Mine collapse. Lose everything this run.
• Fuel ≤ 0 → Life support fails. Lose everything this run.
• Successful Extract → Keep all shards, curios, and ore collected. Ores go straight into your Mining skill inventory.

Progression & Upgrades

Delve has its own separate leveling system (independent of character level or Mining skill level):

• XP comes primarily from depth reached on successful extracts (plus some base).
• Level = floor(sqrt(XP / 50)) + 1.
• Higher levels improve:
  • Max Fuel capacity (affects entry cost and run length).
  • Reinforce power (stability restored per use).
  • Survey range (layers revealed per Survey).

Obsidian Shards are the upgrade currency:

• Found in deep runs (depth > 15 has increasing chance) or Ore Veins.
• Spent in the Delve Workshop (/delve_shop) to permanently raise:
  • Fuel Level
  • Structure Level (reinforce)
  • Sensor Level (survey)

Shards are also occasionally rewarded from high-quality Mining sessions via the Gathering Mastery system (Rich Veins, etc.).

Ties to the Rest of the Game

• Uses your current Mining pickaxe tier for damage mitigation and ore yields.
• Rewards feed directly into your Mining resources (used in Settlement converters, Black Market, Alchemy, etc.).
• Successful deep runs and quality Delve sessions grant momentum toward familiarization gates on Mining tool upgrades (see Gathering page).
• Part of the broader "active vs passive" gathering fantasy alongside /fish and /chop.
• Shards and deep ore are valuable sinks and progression vectors.

Tips for Success

• Always Survey first on a new run. Knowing what's ahead lets you decide whether to push for an Ore Vein or extract safely.
• Manage fuel aggressively. Reinforce only when stability is critically low.
• Higher pickaxe tiers are the best "free" mitigation — keep your Mining skill upgraded.
• Don't be greedy on the first few runs. Learn the hazard patterns.
• Ore Veins are jackpot layers — they give full current-tier mining yields on top of normal progress.
• Use Delve for targeted rare ore farming (Idea Ore at high depths with good pickaxe) when passive ticks aren't enough.
• Combine with Gathering Mastery: high-quality Delve runs feed momentum back into tool upgrades, which then make future Delves stronger.
• Watch your gold — entry costs get expensive fast as you raise Fuel Level.

Delve turns Mining from a pure idle activity into a tense, tactical mini-game with meaningful decisions and high upside for skilled players.

---

Drill deeper. Extract smarter. Bring back the good stuff.

Last updated: May 2026 (sourced from cogs/delve.py, core/delve/mechanics.py, core/delve/delve_views.py, database/repositories/delve.py, CLAUDE.md Delve section, and cross-references in skills/mechanics.py + gathering mastery)